Bakura sat at the desk in his bedroom, homework out in front of him. The sun was sinking behind the horizon outside, casting shadows into his room, and so his desk lamp was on, washing his papers with a yellow glow. The clock next to him read 5:23. He sighed and began another sentence in an essay he was to write by tomorrow.

Suddenly, the golden pendant hanging from his neck, the Millennium Ring, let off a faint glow from the center of its decorative eye. Bakura blinked and grew slightly tense, as he thought he could almost feel something watching him from behind. He peered over his shoulder, then rose from his chair to face his empty room. He was greeted by nothing but the shadows and silence, but still, he was tense. Suddenly, he started to fade away.

Bakura gasped as he could see himself start to vanish, and he let out a yell, but it didn't penetrate the silence in his room. Before he could do anything, he was gone.

Bakura's room now stood empty, without any trace of the white-haired boy. The sun continued to sink behind the clouds and horizon as always, but tomorrow would prove to be a very different day than usual.

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Yugi sat at his desk, enjoying the freshness of the new morning. His friends, Joey, Tristan, and Tea, all stood around him, taking the time before class began to converse and make fun of each other. Students still poured into the classroom, taking advantage of their free time before the teacher had reign over them all.

Yugi began to frown as his friends' conversation switched from topic to topic. There was something he had heard this morning that was distracting him, and he wanted to know their opinion on it. "Hey, Joey, did you read about that weird missing persons case in the newspaper today?" He asked after he had politely waited for them to finish talking.

"Huh? Yeah, I did read that… very strange." Joey answered, starting to wonder about it.

"What missing persons case?" Tea asked. "I don't really read the paper." She knew that Yugi followed the events in the news very closely, sometimes to the point where it irritated her, but she felt she should ask, if it was bothering him.

"It's strange, Tea. Three people disappeared yesterday, mysteriously, and they all happen to be duelists." Yugi answered. "First there was Mako Tsunami. The newspaper report said that he went out to go fishing yesterday afternoon, and that somebody went to go find him, but all that person found was his fishing rod lying on the ground, with a fish still caught on the hook, as though he had just caught it. Then there was Weevil Underwood, who didn't come home after school. His mother said that that was usual, but that she got worried when he never came back for dinner. Third, and the most mysterious, is the disappearance of Espa Roba."

"Woah, all of those people disappeared?" Tea asked, a bit shocked. "But we know all of them!"

Joey nodded. "I know. What's weird about Espa's case is that they say there was no way he could have left and gone off somewhere without someone seeing, but he's gone. His brothers were with him when they were visiting a museum or something, and he went through a door ahead of them, but when one of his brothers followed, he was just… gone. They say it was impossible for him to have disappeared so quickly because there was only a second or two that Espa was out of sight."

There was a short and awkward silence between the group, before Yugi sighed. "I don't know, you guys. I'm kind of worried about this."

Tristan laughed. "Maybe they all just decided to go someplace to duel each other." Tea jabbed him in the stomach with her elbow, giving him a 'that's not funny' look.

"In all of the cases, there was no trace of evidence towards anything." Yugi continued after a minute. "No one knows if they all suddenly just walked away, or if someone is responsible, or what."

"I'm sure it's nothing too serious, Yug'. Don't worry about it, ok?" Joey said, knowing his friend could easily become stressed about this.

"But I just have a bad feeling about it…" Yugi trailed off. /What about you, Yami/ He queried the spirit residing in the Millennium Puzzle.

The spirit nodded. /I don't like this either, Yugi. I sense… trouble around the whole matter./

As the final bell rang, the surrounding students began to pile into their seats. Joey, Tristan, and Tea straightened to return to their seats as well, but as Joey looked he saw the desk next to his was empty. "Hey, you guys, Bakura isn't here today."

They all halted. As they met each others eyes, it was obvious that they were all thinking the same thing.

"But, Bakura isn't really a well-known duelist, you guys." Tea said.

"Yeah, but he did make it to the semi-finals of the Battle City tournament." Yugi said, sounding a bit anxious.

Joey opened his mouth to reply, but another voice interrupted. "Joey, Tristan, Tea! Return to your seats at once!" The teacher stood at the head of the class, looking at them all angrily. The three looked around as they all realized they were now the only ones standing, and slunk back to their seats, faces a bit red.

'Bakura's not here today… is it possible he's missing as well…?' Yugi thought, worried.

'He's probably just at home, sick or something. There must be a reason he couldn't come to school today.' Joey thought, thinking it improbable that their friend could be related to the story in the newspaper.

'I don't know about all this…' Tea looked back to the others, catching all of their eyes. Yugi gave a nod, and Tea nodded back, understanding what he meant; they had to check his house after school, just to be sure.

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"Well, this is Bakura's apartment." Joey announced as they all stood outside Bakura's door. "He's probably just sick or something." He repeated for about the fourth time that day.

"There's one way to find out." Yugi said, and reached out to knock the door. "Bakura? Are you home?" He called out, but as they waited, they were met with nothing but silence.

"Bakura! You in there, buddy?" Joey tried, louder than Yugi, and knocked a little harder. Again there was no response.

"Maybe… he went out somewhere today." Tristan said, as Yugi tried the door.

"It's unlocked." Yugi said, pushing the door open just a little. Tristan sighed as he pushed his theory out the window.

They all entered the apartment, looking around. Tea grew a little nervous. "Are you sure we should just be entering someone's house without their permission? Aren't we kind of invading Bakura's privacy?"

"We have to make sure nothing's happened to him." Yugi answered, as they traveled deeper in, Joey calling out their friend's name. "I'm sure Bakura would understand."

"I really don't think he's here, you guys." Tristan concluded, looking around the kitchen area. Joey nodded from the other side of the room. Tea looked in all directions, agreeing.

Yugi traveled back to Bakura's bedroom, opening the door and poking his head in. He quickly gasped. "Come here, you guys!"

The three rushed over and into the room, looking around for what could have made Yugi start. "… Guess he's not in here either." Joey said finally.

"That's not it," Yugi said as he walked towards Bakura's desk. "Look at this. His homework is out and everything, as though he was just doing it. And his desk lamp is on; don't you find that a little strange?"

"Hm… Why would Bakura leave his desk lamp on if he was going anywhere?" Tea asked, and Yugi nodded. Tea now saw his point; if Bakura had gone somewhere, he would have likely cleaned up and at least turned the lights off and lock the door. His textbook was still open as though he had just been reading it.

"Erm… Maybe… The spirit of the Ring decided to just take over and had to get somewhere in a hurry." Joey answered a bit awkwardly.

Yugi shook his head and inspected the desk closer, and frowned. "Joey, do you remember at what time they said Espa disappeared?"

"The newspaper said at 5:25." Joey answered.

"That's very strange as well…" Yugi muttered, and seeing his friends' faces, he explained. "Well, there's no proof, but all of these disappearances have the potential to have happened at the same time. We know exactly when Espa Roba went missing; Mako left for a few hours, creating a window of time including the time when Roba went away. Weevil was gone for hours, too, which means he could have disappeared at any time…"

"You really think they all went missing at the same time?" Tea asked. "Is that even possible? I mean, if there was someone behind this, how could they be in three places at once?"

"I don't know, but Bakura was alone at around 5:25, too." Yugi said. "I just have a really bad feeling… I think we should report this to the police."

"Hmm… Do you really think we have enough proof for them to go on?" Tristan asked. "We don't know; Bakura could come back tomorrow just fine, with an explanation for everything."

"Yeah, well, so could everyone else. I'm going to; if you don't want to come, that's ok." Yugi answered, not sounding rude at all, only troubled. It was clear he too was wondering how so many people, ones he knew, could have seemingly vanished without any traces.

"Yeah, come on you guys." Joey said with a hint of determination, and the others nodded.

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The group arrived at the Domino City Police Station a short while later. Yugi was first to enter the room, although it was obvious he was now becoming a bit shy about the whole thing. Joey took the lead and approached the officer behind the front desk.

"Excuse me," He said, thumping his arms onto the desk and resting them there, as to catch the officer's attention and let him know he meant business. "We'd like to report someone as missing."

The officer looked up lazily from the monitor of his computer, which he had been reading. "Well then, tell me a little more." He said, straightening up, but his attitude was beginning to bother Joey a little.

"Ryou Bakura." Yugi spoke up. "He didn't come to school today and when we checked his house it was empty." He started to feel his face grow a little red; those weren't exactly the best grounds on which to suspect someone missing.

The officer sunk back into his chair, obviously thinking the teens a joke. "Did you think that maybe he just went out somewhere?" He asked.

"Listen!" Joey said, ticked at not being taken seriously. "We think this has something to do with the other people who have disappeared- you know, the duelists."

"Well, you don't have a lot of convincing evidence. Why aren't his parents reporting him in?"

"Bakura lives in an apartment alone." Yugi spoke again, now more determined. "When we checked his house, his door was unlocked and he'd left a light on." The officer looked at him with unconvinced eyes. Yugi tried harder. "His homework was out, with his text books open, and the essay he was writing was stopped in mid-sentence! The pen was still uncapped right next to it!"

The officer sighed. "Fine, but kids, I'm sorry, for a person to be reported as missing, they have to have been gone for at least 24 hours."

"What?" Joey asked. "But then how were Mako, Espa, and Weevil reported missing? Didn't the newspaper say they'd disappeared yesterday? How could it have been in the paper this morning?"

"They weren't officially 'missing persons' this morning. The newspaper never said that." Yugi answered, thinking. "Thanks to Duelist Kingdom and Battle City, with a lot of help from Kaiba, the media keeps a close eye on things related to Duel Monsters. I bet when the newspaper heard that duelists from the last Battle City tournament were missing, it decided to make a story out of it anyways, even if it wasn't official yet."

"Wow, can they do that?" Joey asked, and Yugi shrugged.

"But the officer's right, Yugi." Tea said.

"Actually, Bakura has been missing for 24 hours, right? The last time any of us saw him was when school ended yesterday, and it's way past that time now." Yugi perked up. The rest of them smiled, grinning at the officer spitefully.

"And no one else has seen this kid?"

"Nope," Joey answered, even if he didn't know that was exactly true.

The officer sighed once more. "Fine." He gave in. "But don't expect this to be roped in with the other duelists." He said as he stood up, then went through the back door.

The group left the building and sat out on the front steps of the police office. "I didn't like his attitude." Joey said with a bit of contempt in his voice.

"I know what you mean." Tristan agreed. "But at least we got him to listen to us."

Yugi sighed; he wasn't satisfied with the amount of work the police seemed to be putting into all of it. "I don't know what help it'll do, though. I have a weird feeling that this is something much bigger than what it appears to be."

'Yugi…' Tea thought with concern, watching her friend. 'It seems that… every time we manage to catch a break or relax, a new threat appears, even worse than the last.'

"Ugh! But what the heck could be happening! Were they all kidnapped or something!" Joey yelled in frustration.

"We already ruled that out, didn't we?" Tristan asked. "It couldn't have been if it all happened at the same time… Unless there was more than one person behind this."

"I don't know… I really have a feeling that someone is behind this. We have to find out who it is! Before they cause even more trouble!" Yugi said.

"That's right… Because, what if more people disappear?" Tea asked, her eyes now shining with worry.

"It's just too weird that all these people disappeared on the same day, and that they're all duelists who have competed in top tournaments." Yugi sighed again. "There just has to be a bigger explanation for it."

"I think so, too." Said a voice, and everyone turned to see Mai standing before them.

"Mai! When did you get here?" Joey asked. "And why are you here?"

Mai winked at Joey, making him even more flustered. "I was curious about this whole thing. I decided to come to Domino and search for you guys; whenever weird stuff like this happens, you seem to be involved."

Yugi looked at her sadly. "You don't have any idea what's going on, do you?" He asked, only sounding half hopeful.

"Nope, no more than any of you do, kiddo." She answered. "Sorry. But I'll be staying in Domino for a while, just to see if any action picks up." She smiled.

"All we know is that now Bakura's missing, too." Yugi muttered.

"Bakura? I remember him, he was one of the people always hanging around you, right?" Mai said, reflecting on Duelist Kingdom and Battle City.

"Yeah. That's why we've gotta get involved in this. We've gotta find everybody." Joey answered. He brightened up some. "But we never see you around anymore, Mai. It's nice to have you back."

"Hm, well, I thought you all might be getting a little lonely without me." Mai answered. Tea managed to stop her eye from twitching in irritation.

"Well, hate to say it, but I think we'd better all go." Tristan said. "It's getting kind of late."

"Yeah, and some of us do have some important things to do when they get home." Joey said, standing. "Stupid teachers load us with all this homework…"

Mai laughed. "School, I'm glad I'm past that stage." Joey scowled at her.

They all stood and prepared to go their separate ways. "Yugi, Joey… Please, be careful." Tea cautioned them. "Whatever's happening, it seems to be targeting duelists, and you two are some of the best."

"Right, we will, Tea." Yugi answered. He looked to Joey and could see in his eyes that he was warning him to be careful, which Yugi also sent back to Joey.

Joey turned to Mai. "Mai, I want you to be real careful, too. Who knows what could happen?"

"Yeah yeah, like anything could really happen to me, anyways." Mai said, waving off Joey's warning, but when she looked at him she could tell he was serious. "You better watch out for yourself, too, kiddo." She started walking away after Joey nodded.

"Tristan, Tea, you guys better watch out too." Yugi said. "We don't know if it's just duelists that are disappearing, you know."

The two looked surprised, but that made sense, and so they nodded, and all headed off their separate ways.

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/I'm really worried about this, Yami./ Yugi confided in the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle on his journey home. /People have… disappeared./

/I know, Yugi. I can sense your tension. This may be serious, but you need to relax a bit more./ The Pharaoh answered, concerned for the other him.

/But what if they don't come back? What if Bakura… Mako… Espa… even Weevil? What if they're never found again/

/We'll find them. Don't worry, Yugi./

/You've been awfully quiet today, Yami./ Yugi replied. /What do you think about all of this/

/I'm just as puzzled as you, Yugi. But I sense… a dark presence behind all of this. I'm not sure what it is./

/A dark presence/ Yugi asked softly, worried. He was now in sight of and close to the card shop. /I wonder what Grandpa has to say about all of this…/

"I'm home, Grandpa!" Yugi shouted his normal greeting as he stepped into the family card shop, shutting the door behind him and causing the bell on it to ring slightly. He smiled. "How-"

"Yugi! Where have you been all this time?" Yugi stumbled back as his Grandfather appeared, rushing up to him and staring at him in a stern way.

"Wh-what's the matter, Grandpa?" Yugi asked, taken aback.

"Don't tell me you haven't heard about those three duelists who went missing!" Grandpa Motou exclaimed. "How can I not be worried about you roaming the streets when there could be some psycho out there targeting duelists! You've been crowned the King of Games, my boy! You need to be careful!"

"I was only out with my friends, Grandpa." Yugi answered. He often hung out with his friends for an hour or so before coming home from school; his Grandfather was fine with it, as long as he had time to get his homework done every night.

"I don't think that's going to work anymore." Grandpa answered, turning his eyes to the ceiling and rubbing his chin in thought. "Maybe I should instill a curfew…"

"A-a curfew! But Grandfather-!"

"Oh, don't you 'Grandfather' me!" Grandpa cut Yugi off again, but then grew very grave and serious. "Yugi, it's not that I don't trust you to be careful, but look at all the dangerous things that have happened already."

Yugi looked down as he remembered Duelist Kingdom and Battle City. "But my friends and I are really careful. Please Grandpa?" He looked at him pleadingly. Grandpa didn't answer, but looked back at Yugi. "Hmm… If I promise to always stay with my friends, will you let me go out? All of the people who disappeared were alone when it happened, so if I stay with my friends, I'm sure I'll be safe." Yugi explained.

His Grandfather bowed his head. "Fine, but please, Yugi, be on your guard."

Yugi nodded. 'After that freak-out, there's no way I can tell him about what happened today. He'd never let me go out.' He hurried up the stairs into his room.

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The bright moon hung over Domino city, casting pale light into Yugi's bedroom, where Yugi lay on his bed, head rested on his hands in his pillow. He was wide awake, and his clock ticked the minutes away until midnight.

'What in the world could be going on…?' Yugi thought, still thinking about the day's events. 'Why would so many people just leave on the same day, around the same time?' He sighed mentally. 'This is making me so anxious I can't sleep.'

"Yugi." The Pharaoh spoke out to him, and Yugi turned in surprise to see the spirit standing next to the bed, looking down at him. The moon's beams reached through his transparent form, but he looked as strong and confident as any physical being. "You need to try to relax and get some rest."

Yugi closed his eyes. "I know. But I can't. I can't stop thinking about what's happened to everyone." He opened his eyes and sat up, looking at the Pharaoh. "I don't like this. I'm sure there's someone behind it all."

"Yes, me too." The Pharaoh said, crossing his arms and looking out the window. 'But who?'

"I just hope that no one else goes missing." Yugi said worriedly.

Yami Yugi frowned. "I don't know. I'm sorry to say this, but," he hesitated, "it may be to our advantage if any other people go missing."

"What?" Yugi started. "But how…?"

"The police haven't a clue what's going on right now. There were no witnesses and no clues at any of these instances." The Pharaoh looked back at Yugi. "If more people were to disappear, the chances of someone seeing it or of something being left behind increase. People are keeping an eye out now. I regret saying it, but we almost need this to happen again."

Yugi looked at the other him with scared eyes. "But, what if it's someone we know again? What if it's Joey, or Mai? Or even Tristan or Tea?"

Yami stared at the ground. "We have to hang through and hope for the best, Yugi."

Yugi swallowed and nodded. Yami stared out of the window at the moon again. "I've also noticed that, if I may say so, all of the duelists who disappeared were generally low-level. They've all competed in large tournaments, but only Bakura made it to the semi-finals out of all of them, and previously he had no record of dueling anywhere. Weevil used to be the regional champion, but lately he's lost so many duels he's hardly considered a champ anymore."

Yugi nodded. "That's true. So, do you think, if this happens again… Will it be higher lever duelists this time, or the same as before?"

"I don't know." Yami answered, and sat down in Yugi's desk chair. "The only thing we can do is wait and see what happens."

"Hmm…" Yugi stared at the wall for a moment. "You know…" He said after a minute. "This is almost like a game."

Yami stared at him, then smiled. "You're right. We have an opponent, whoever he is out there, and we're playing against him. Right now, the only strategy we have is to wait and watch, and when the time comes, we will form our own counter-strategy."

Yugi sighed and lay back down. "Yeah, but who in the world is out there who is stealing duelists?"

"We'll concentrate on that when the time comes, Yugi. For now, go to sleep and get some rest."

Yugi smiled, eyes closed, and nodded. The spirit of the Puzzle faded and disappeared, returning to the Item, and Yugi tried to give his mind a rest. Sleep was a long time to come, but somewhere in the night it reached him.

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Woooh, that's it. Sorry the chapter was so darn long, I don't know if anyone is still around reading it by now. For those of you who are, please, please review. Send your suggestions, comments, and of course constructive criticism is always warmly welcomed! Want anything changed? Did I do something wrong? I'm open to everyone's opinions. Also, as a note about some of the things in this fanfic; I've never been in a police office, I'm not exactly sure what it's like. Also, I'm only guessing that Mai doesn't live in Domino and that she's graduated from school by now. Well, that's all I can remember… Thanks to everyone who's stuck around this long! I was going to split the chapter in two for easier reading but I couldn't find a good breaking point. Thanks again!